This second session has been wonderful, but a little more draining… It inspired me to finish up the mix I was making for campers this summer with some themes on friendship, loving yourself, and being solid with each other.

This is one long mp3 file, because I love actually mixing songs. The campers in the band I was helping as band manager were all 8 or 9. I tried to have a variety of songs and appeal to their tastes on the themes I was wanting to share.. <3

This is a drawing I finished up today as part of the roadmap zine I’m making for the campers of Rock’N’Roll Camp For Girls.

In the zine, it will be black instead of yellow, but I drew it in yellow because it just felt right. Now I am debating which quote from her to use to pair with the drawing.

I am wrapping up laying out the roadmap, debating banging out one more coloring page of a rad musician. I can’t wait to try to put together a coloring book of more drawing one day (in the NEAR future) for rock camp.

If you’ve been looking for someway to help rock camp, this would be a great start! In addition to having a chance to help out rock camp, you can have a chance to meet other rad volunteers. Plus, you can check out the road map I made for campers, which will be including some rad art of musicians.

If you have something you’d like to donate to rock camp, gift cards, services, art, whatever, this would be a great time to drop a donation off. Remember, RNRC4G is a nonprofit and you will get a receipt for your tax-deductible donation. So, for example, if you’re an artist, you get to set the value of what you’ve donated. Also, what’s more awesome than giving your comics or your band’s cd to young people?

We’re also going to watch The Punk Singer (probably starting it at 3:00), because I have been wanting to see it and showing it during working on this seemed appropriate. ♥

Blue will provide some tasty snacks and beverages for this work part, but you’re welcome to bring some too! If you want to come and you don’t know where I live, you can message me for the address. Feel free to invite your rad friends!

Do you know of an awesome organization or program that directly services youth?

I am working on a comprehensive guide/zine of youth resources for youth to be distributed within Youth Empowerment and Solidarity (YES!), the Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN) Program I work for, and in the newly revised roadmap we’re making for Rock’n’Roll Camp for Girls. I want to make sure this guide really helps youth get connected with what they need for both their emotional and physical well-being, it would help especially to hear about any resources in the Mall 205 area for my YES/SUN students, but I want to hear about anything in the Portland and greater Portland areas. I am also especially interested in youth-led recources and groups like the Multnomah Youth Commission because I think that youth working with each other in solidarity is important.

If you can provide a small description, that would help my process if I am unfamiliar with the organization or program because I am including brief descriptions in the guide. Please also help signal boost this and share it far and wide! Thanks in advance! You can email me the suggestions if you’d like. lovemotionstory at gmail of course.

I get it. The shit that’s happening in this country is super scary regarding laws coming forward that would allow businesses, employers, housing, etc. to discriminate against queer folks openly based on their religion. I partially grew up in Arizona, I was assaulted many times for many reasons. Because I was a girl, because I was hanging out with my latin@ friends, because I was queer. I understand the pain and frustration that comes with the threat of violence and discrimination. Guess what though?

It’s not the same as Jim Crow.

As a friend-of-a-friend said, “I don’t think it’s a good comparison and I think it’s actually harmful to the work we do and the alliances we say we care about. Jim Crow laws were a broad set of measures created specifically to make it impossible for black people to participate on any equal basis with white people. Jim Crow has a unique legacy and Jim Crow is about race. Framing these religious exemption policies as ‘gay Jim Crow’ suggests that the LGBT community is engaged in some kind of parallel experience to black people who lived under Jim Crow. I hope that’s not what we are intending to do.”

These laws are horrible, they’re painful, they’re troubling, but it’s also horrible, painful, and troubling for white folks who are queer to appropriate the term “Jim Crow” for queer causes. The origin of the phrase “Jim Crow” has often been attributed to “Jump Jim Crow”, a song-and-dance caricature of blacks performed by white actor Thomas D. Rice in blackface. That right there begins to differentiate the situations. There is no “gay face” and we’re not fighting a legacy of slavery of gays and an incredibly segregated society. We are fighting attempts to legally discriminate and there are many queer-protective laws in this country. The situation is bad in its own right, which is incredibly worth talking about, but to call these anti-gay laws “The New Jim Crow” is appropriating, alienating, and ignorant.

Please don’t.

It deepens problems marginalized communities already have in fighting with each other, it shows a lack of mutual respect and understanding.

DO PLEASE TALK about those bits of legislation in their own horribleness. Talk about how it might hurt YOU, talk about YOUR history in those states, if you have one. Talk about YOUR fears and pain in seeing such laws coming into our society. You can do this without appropriating the traumatic experiences of other communities.